In music, fioritura (/fiˌɔːrɪˈtjʊərə/ fee-OR-i-TURE, Italian: [fjoriˈtuːra], meaning "flourish" or "flowering"; plural fioriture) is the florid embellishment of melodic lines, either notated by a composer or improvised during a performance. It usually involves lengthy, complex embellishments, as opposed to standardized local ornamental figures such as trills, mordents, or appoggiaturas, and its use is documented as early as the thirteenth century.[1][2] The alternative term coloratura is less accurate.[3] It is closely related to the sixteenth-century practice of diminution or division.[4]

An extreme example of fioritura from Chopin's Nocturne in D major (Play)

References

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Sources

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  • Da Costa, Neal Peres. 2002. "Fioritura". The Oxford Companion to Music, edited by Alison Latham. Oxford and New York: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-866212-9.
  • Jander, Owen. 2001. "Fioritura". The New Grove Dictionary of Music and Musicians, second edition, edited by Stanley Sadie and John Tyrrell. London: Macmillan Publishers.
  • Randel, Don Michael. 2003. "Fioritura". The Harvard Dictionary of Music, fourth edition. Harvard University Press Reference Library 16. Cambridge: Harvard University Press. ISBN 978-0-674-01163-2.
  • Steane, J. B. 1992. "Fioritura". The New Grove Dictionary of Opera. 2 vols. London: Macmillan Publishers.
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